In my last post, I talked about 7 different ways to begin building Wealth.   This gave you the chance to brainstorm and do some long term planning and thinking about goals to set, actions to implement to get out of debt and build long term Wealth.   But what about all those suprises and curve balls that life seems to throw at us?  The unexpected that comes, especially after we think have gotten our plans all set and implemented.

That is exactly what just happened to our family.   This change forced us to make some very tough calls concerning our budget, Money and ultimately our lifestyle.   The situation?  Higher school costs, and higer taxes coupled with a reduction in pay at work forced us to re-evaluate our budget.  There were unpopular decisions that had to be made as we downsized ourselves to cope with less income and still pay for the higher cost of school.  This is happening everywhere - the downsizing of people’s budget is not an uncommon thing, in today’s economy.  Yet, we must deal with reality.

These 5 suggestions will help one downsize effectively and make this process as painless as possible.

1. Let as many areas of your budget "Share the Pain" in your downsizing.  In our family, 7 areas helped absorb the extra costs.  Three people’s weekly allowance, the weekly food allowance, the monthly allowance for the next car, charitable giving, and our retirement savings all took a hit to help us keep the budget balanced AND yet achieve an overall balance in life.

2. Evaluate whether you need to possibly look for more work or Money making activities.  It could be as little as weekend work, or as big as a career move, or starting your own business (home business or otherwise).   Remember one of the three ways to make your finances balance, is to make more Money.  The other two being cutting expenses, or making more income and cutting expenses at the same time.

3. Take responsibility and be determined. Dont start spending more than you earn!  Make the necessary adjustments regardless of how painful.  Lots of people, when faced with higher costs, turn a blind eye and just "hope everything turns out OK".  Wrong!  You cannot assume. You cannot hope for a miracle. You must take action and stick to your budget.  And yes, It can be done!

4. Be sure and look long term.   Our decision this month to cut back was the result of looking down the road (14 months ahead to be exact) and realizing there were higher costs ahead.  Look into your financial future as best and as far as you can and look for situations that might need some advance planning.  The sooner you find out that you need to adjust, the easier it will be to make the actual adjustment.  Wouldn’t you rather have 14 months to save for an upcoming expense versus 2 or 3 months?

5. Budget Master, make sure you have the agreemennt of your spouse. Make sure all other family members understand what is happening and why it is happening.  It is tough to downsize.   It is impossible to downsize without your spouse’s support!

Taking action ahead of time, making the proper adjustments, and sticking to your plan will keep you out of trouble.  Times like these make having a plan and a system to keep your plan all the more critical.  "The Allowance System – Wealth Secrets For Adults" will help you create a good financial plan and give you the system that will consistently allow you to stay on top of your finances. 

Best of Success,

 
David Dickinson
Author, Trainer, Educator, Entrepreneur
"The Allowance System FOR ADULTS"

 

Tags: Budget, Economy, Save Money

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 20th, 2009 at 12:26 am and is filed under Budget, Economy, Finances, Saving Money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.